Line of Succession
by spudicus87
Summary: The history and future of the Order of Aurelius.


**Line of Succession**

The Order of Aurelius has been around for centuries on end, and has always been constructed as an order of power; not justice. There's no guilt, no remorse; just darkness. It was pure. It was run this way for centuries until a curse plagued the bloodline. When 'The Scourge of Europe' fed off the wrong girl and was damned for all eternity with a soul. This was an unfortunate mishap for Angelus, and it would later spell the destruction of the Order of Aurelius. At the time the leader of this Order was a vampire by the name of Henrich Joseph Nest, otherwise known as The Master. Being as old as he was The Master had lost his semblance of humanity long before Angelus, or even Darla for that matter, were sired into the Order. The Master would continue to rule, even confined under the town of Sunnydale, till the Slayer, Buffy Summers, would slay him after his attempt to free himself and open the Hellmouth. Generally, the line of succession states that the next vampire of the bloodline should receive the full power and support of the Order. Which would have been Darla had she been still among the undead, but was staked by the re-ensouled Angel, her childe. This left the throne to Angel, but a vampire-with-a-soul was unprecedented at the time, and it was decided that Angel would be taken out of the line of succession, and the Order completely. This left the throne to Drusilla and it was later decided that she would share her rule with her childe, Spike, or William The Bloody. It seemed that the Order was at peace and in control again until Angel lost his soul, experiencing a true moment of happiness, and Angelus returned. The Order had already taken him out of the line of succession, but this was Angelus. For many years, even decades, The Master proclaimed that Angelus would be the one to succeed him. Angelus both knew and understood the power he already had, even if he'd been gone for 90 years, and seized control from Spike and Dru, who readily accepted Angelus back with open arms. Even though the Order felt whole again, and had Angelus, the true successor to the throne, at the helm Angelus' reign would be a short one, and led to more pain and confusion not only for Angelus, but for the rest of the Order. It was proposed that Spike and Dru take control again after it became known that Angelus had once again regained his soul and had been sent to Hell by the Slayer, who was rumored to be his soul mate. This would have been fine, but Spike and Dru decided to make themselves scarce and fled to South America. This left the Order in shambles and without a clear leader, produced chaos among the members. Trying to restore order the members tried to fix what damage they could, and called on The First Evil to bring back their greatest leader, Angelus. It was thought that if Angel would make love to the Slayer once more he would again lose his soul and become Angelus. It was well known that Angelus was a very strong willed person and thus his souled self must be equally or even more so. The First did agree to their proposal and nearly convinced him to comply with its demands, but his demeanor and emotions changed very quickly and The First almost drove him to commit suicide. The Order didn't care which way it went because they realized that if he wouldn't join them he would become their greatest adversary. The First's little act also awakened a force that Angel would later join and support, The Powers That Be. Seeing that the plan had failed The First departed and left the Order to deal with the consequences. Angel now realized what danger he posed to the Slayer and her friends, and decided to leave Sunnydale. Therefore, eliminating the threat. He moved to LA where he automatically makes enemies, the most important being Wolfram & Hart, a law firm for demons. He is soon recruited by The Powers That Be along with a half-breed demon, Doyle, to appose the forces of darkness and help people. He later ran into Cordelia, from Sunnydale, and formed a business to 'help the helpless.' Back in Sunnydale, however, Spike returned and searched for the Gem of Amora, leaving Dru in South America with her new boyfriend. He found the Gem, but is beaten by Buffy and fled without the ring, in which Buffy gave to Oz who went to LA to give to Angel. With the ring in Angel's possession he could have been invulnerable to even sunlight, but Spike soon found out that Angel had the ring and came to retrieve it from him, weather it be the hard or easy way. Spike's plan was a flop, and he ended up going back to Sunnydale. Where he was captured by the Initiative, a group of the military that specializes in demons, and was cursed with a chip in his brain, affectively defanging him, and ultimately putting him out of the line of succession.


End file.
